Ba Ying exclaimed: “Kui Kui’s style of cursing is even fiercer than Ba Ba’s!”

Wu Xiang: “I was wondering how Old Qi had changed so much to accept a female disciple.”

When Que Chi’s sword came at her, Xiang Haikui couldn’t defend against it, but avoiding a large, fire-engulfed Zhu Yan beast charging toward her wasn’t difficult.

Though Xiang Haikui was a heavy sword cultivator, she was certainly more agile than the massive Zhu Yan beast.

In fact, with his abilities, he could have made himself smaller and more agile, but most beasts wouldn’t choose to shrink except when fleeing.

The beast mentality resembled that of men—the bigger, the more imposing.

Xiang Haikui’s eyes reflected the raging flames as she waited for the right moment, bent her knees, pushed off the ground, and jumped high, leaping past him from the side.

The Zhu Yan turned and spewed a mouthful of flames toward her landing spot.

Xiang Haikui countered with sword energy, sweeping out fierce winds.

As Zhu Yan pounced, she ducked beneath him, turned, and stabbed him with her sword.

Damn, it was like stabbing into iron plate, only breaking a bit of his skin.

Waves of heat rolled over her, causing her hair to clump together. She kept jumping up and down, rolling everywhere, always stabbing at the same spot. After five or six strikes, she finally drew blood.

The blood spurted out, but the wound quickly sealed itself.

This was the natural advantage of the beast races.

Fortunately, her Tian Kuang cultivation didn’t consume spiritual energy. Otherwise, after such prolonged exertion, she would have depleted her energy and collapsed from exhaustion.

“Yes, that’s right!”

“See, your beast form is much more powerful than wielding a sword, and you don’t even need to think. No wonder you dislike cultivating the human way.”

“Exactly! If you believe you’re right, you must persist!”

Xiang Haikui shifted from insults to praise, loudly chattering while searching for weaknesses in the Zhu Yan beast form.

Suddenly, the Zhu Yan beast before her froze as if its acupoints had been sealed.

Xiang Haikui thrust her sword forward, but it was like stabbing into the air. Que Chi had vanished from the spot.

She remained vigilant, guarding against a sudden attack from Que Chi: “Brother Ba, can Zhu Yan turn invisible?”

Ba Ying: “No, they can’t.”

Wu Xiang: “He was summoned away.”

Xiang Haikui frowned: “Summoned?”

Wu Xiang: “Yes, summoned by the spiritual object he’s attached to. It seems he was severely injured before his imprisonment.”

Despite his lengthy explanation, Xiang Haikui still didn’t fully understand.

At any rate, his departure was fortunate, as Xiang Haikui truly couldn’t defeat him.

Even after using verbal attacks to make him abandon his sword and transform into beast form, she still couldn’t win.

Que Chi was much older than her boss, and his cultivation before imprisonment was approximately equal to two Jing Wenxius.

Xiang Haikui quickly treated the sword wounds on her body while also taking some anti-wolf measures, stamping her feet in pain.

Then she changed her clothes and flew toward the inner city on her sword.

Only while riding her sword did she have time to re-tie her bun.

Wu Xiang suddenly said, “Actually, I once considered the reason Que Chi mentioned.”

Ba Ying was silent for a moment: “Ba Ba also thought about it.”

Wu Xiang: “So when the elders taught us to read, I didn’t understand why I needed to learn human writing, and didn’t study.”

Ba Ying: “I learned, but I didn’t read a single book the elders asked me to.”

Wu Xiang seemed somewhat embarrassed: “Hmm… I think I now understand why our ancestors wanted us to humanize, forced us to read, and made us study books.”

Ba Ying laughed awkwardly: “I was so happy listening to Kui Kui curse Que Chi, I wanted to laugh. But then I suddenly remembered how Ba Ba was captured by the Heavenly Race, and I couldn’t laugh anymore, hehe…”

Xiang Haikui was curious: “How was Brother Ba captured?”

“Well…” Ba Ying refused to answer.

…

Before entering the inner city, Xiang Haikui encountered two spirits and dispatched them without effort.

Now, ordinary citizens were evacuating toward the outskirts. Jin Ling had powerful spiritual veins suitable for cultivation, so the population of ordinary citizens wasn’t very large.

The Jin Ling King had arranged numerous officials to transport them out of the city on spirit boats, avoiding the need to crowd the city gates.

After evacuating most ordinary citizens, Jin Ling activated its great city barrier to prevent monsters from escaping.

Xiang Haikui admired: “As expected of a royal capital, their ability to handle emergencies is truly impressive.”

Wu Xiang: “It’s useless. Currently, Lesser Jianmu’s roots haven’t yet penetrated the Underworld. Once they do, the rifts will grow more numerous and larger.”

Once the formidable characters from the Land of Nine Sufferings escaped, tearing through the barrier would be effortless.

“Moreover, the leakage of Turbid Qi from the Underworld inherently damages mortal cultivators.”

Ba Ying: “Kui Kui, are you planning to charge into the Lu residence alone?”

Xiang Haikui: “I couldn’t even defeat Que Chi.”

Going alone would be suicide.

The situation had already exceeded what she could handle by herself. When faced with such a major event, the natural course of action was… to call for help!

The streets were filled with cultivators slaying spirits. She heard that several powerful monsters and fierce ghosts had already escaped, prompting even the ninth-rank Jin Ling City Lord Duan Xiao to personally lead people in clearing them out.

Xiang Haikui asked around and finally located Duan Xiao.

He appeared to be in his thirties, with a beard, and looked quite heroic. He stood on a rooftop, watching his disciples setting up formations to capture a fierce ghost.

“City Lord Duan!” Xiang Haikui leaped onto the roof. “My father is Xiang Heng, the City Lord of Yin Sha!”

She first mentioned her father’s name.

Duan Xiao turned quickly: “The… Second Miss Xiang.”

He recognized Xiang Tianqing.

Xiang Haikui said, “Dealing with these monsters only treats the symptoms, not the root cause. We must find the source…”

Before she could finish, Duan Xiao frowned, showing impatience. Wasn’t this stating the obvious? Everyone knew that, but the problem was that these roots were densely intertwined, covering the entire Jin Ling, making it impossible to locate the source.

Moreover, these tree roots couldn’t be cut. If holes were created by cutting, even more poisonous gas would escape.

But Xiang Haikui’s next words startled him.

“I know where the source is—it’s the wooden tower at the Lu family mansion, the wealthiest family.”

“How did you come by this information?”

Duan Xiao frowned again. The Lu family wasn’t easy to offend.

Xiang Haikui didn’t explain: “Whether it’s true or not, you can find out by going there. It won’t waste much of your time. At a moment like this, shouldn’t we rather believe it exists than doubt it?”

As she spoke, she took out the token her father had given her. This was an official token, and Xiang Heng had only one.

Duan Xiao had one just like it and could easily verify its authenticity. She was using her father’s reputation as a guarantee.

Duan Xiao was a decisive character. He immediately selected a group of people: “Follow me!”

The group arrived at the Lu residence and knocked on its tightly closed main gate.

Lu Zhengtu personally came out to greet them: “Why has the City Lord come at this time?”

Duan Xiao stood with his hands behind his back: “Brother Lu seems surprised? I’m more surprised that while the city is in chaos, Brother Lu sits calmly at home.”

While the two sides were talking, no one noticed a “small lizard” crawling along the corner of the wall and into the door, heading straight for the wooden tower.

Tian Kuang sword had now reached the fifth level, with its wild energy progress bar filled. The accumulated wild energy was enough for her to transform twice in a short period.

When dealing with Que Chi earlier, as long as she could grit her teeth and endure, she didn’t waste any wild energy, precisely for this moment.

When she transformed into a flood dragon, she could control her size at will. Previously, she had always enlarged herself to fight monsters, but now she shrank her body, crawling along the ground.

Not knowing how long Duan Xiao would argue with Lu Zhengtu, or whether they would eventually be able to force their way into the wooden tower, she was worried about Bai Xingxian and had to enter.

However, after circling the wooden tower for a while, she couldn’t find any cracks to enter.

Wu Xiang: “Press against the wall and close your eyes.”

The little flood dragon quickly did as instructed.

Wu Xiang: “I’ll make your body dematerialize for an instant to pass through the wall, but this strand of my divine consciousness will disappear.”

Xiang Haikui said, “Thank you, Senior.”

Wu Xiang said, “You won’t be able to destroy this Lesser Jianmu. Listen to me, rescue the person and leave quickly.”

“I understand.”

Xiang Haikui’s primary goal was to rescue Bai Xingxian, not to save the world.

Jin Ling had plenty of powerful experts; it wasn’t her turn to play the hero.

She always had a clear understanding of her position, only doing what she had to do and what was within her capabilities.

Wu Xiang gave a final instruction: “That… when Changli recovers, tell him to…”

“What?”

“Oh, nothing.”

In the end, Wu Xiang didn’t speak his mind. Using the last of his divine consciousness, he made the little flood dragon transparent, allowing her to pass through the wooden wall into the tower, and even through the floor into the world beneath.

The world beneath the tower had three spiral staircases. Xiang Haikui asked: “Brother Ba, can you let me stomp my foot again?”

Even though it would only be visible for an instant, it would give her an estimate of what was below.

Ba Ying: “I don’t have much power left and can’t transmit very far, but it should be enough.”

Xiang Haikui knew his strand of divine consciousness would also dissipate: “After Senior Yin recovers, I’ll ask him to take me to visit you.”

Ba Ying laughed heartily: “Alright, Kui Kui. Then you’ll see Ba Ba’s majesty. With Ba Ba by your side, no one will dare bully you.”

Xiang Haikui thought of her master, whom no one could approach even while imprisoned in Wangu Cave. Knowing Ba Ying wasn’t boasting, she smiled: “Brother Ba must be very imposing.”

“Kui Kui, stomp your foot!”

Xiang Haikui bounced on all four feet.

Like a power detector, the energy spread downward in waves.

She saw the layout below clearly: it was empty except for a wooden hut where two people lay—apparently Xiang Tianqing and Lu Xiqiao.

Their position seemed to be on the middle staircase.

She crawled down quickly, soon arriving at the prison door.

The prison was only about forty square meters, just an ordinary wooden hut without a lock. The wooden door was merely ajar, probably because they never expected anyone to come down.

Xiang Haikui crawled through the door gap. Xiang Tianqing lay on the ground with a golden needle inserted between her eyebrows. Her eyes were tightly closed, her complexion extremely poor, her lips pale and bloodless.

Her left sleeve was rolled up to the elbow, exposing half of her snow-white arm with a blood line on her wrist.

Though her wrist had been cut, there was no horrifying scene of her lying in a pool of blood.

Not only did the blood flow slowly, but it was also completely absorbed by the tree roots as soon as it touched the ground.

Xiang Haikui crawled to her side, stepped on her chest, and climbed up to her face.

Xiang Tianqing’s long lashes trembled twice, but she didn’t wake up. The little flood dragon raised her two front claws, preparing to remove the golden needle from her spiritual sea, but hesitated.

Not understanding the current situation, if she removed the golden needle, the Lu family might discover it.

The little flood dragon jumped directly from her face to the ground, blew a breath on her wrist wound to stop the bleeding.

Then she crawled to Lu Xiqiao’s side.

Lu Xiqiao was lying with his back to the door. The little flood dragon followed the curve of his head to his face. When Xiang Haikui saw his face, she was startled.

He appeared to have fainted, but Lu Xiqiao’s eyes were open and bloodshot.

He was conscious, his lips constantly trembling, his features distorted, his expression extremely painful, with wisps of black energy lingering before his spiritual sea.

Xiang Haikui instantly reverted to human form and leaned Tian Kuang’s sword against the wall.

She helped Lu Xiqiao sit up, letting him lean on her shoulder, and gathered sword energy in her palm, covering his spiritual sea to suppress the black energy with her domineering sword energy.

When Bai Xingxian and Lu Xiqiao went missing together, she had only been worried about Bai Xingxian, assuming Lu Xiqiao would be safe as the Lu family’s young master.

Earlier, she had even suspected Lu Xiqiao might be involved in his family’s dark deeds, but Wu Xiang had said they were Dao Merging fruits, and judging by the two brothers’ personalities, Lu Xiqiao was the Pure Good Fruit.

According to Senior Wu Xiang, the Pure Good Fruit’s chances of doing evil were minuscule—a true white lotus rising unstained from the mud.

Regarding Lesser Jianmu, Lu Xiqiao must have been kept in the dark.

Xiang Haikui felt quite sorry for Lu Xiqiao. Though he appeared to be protected, in reality, he was being used to nourish the tree.

She began to worry about Lu Xiqiao.

Because Senior Wu Xiang had also said that while the Dao Merging fruits were siblings, they were also mortal enemies.

The two fruits could devour each other, and the victorious one would undergo a complete transformation and reach the pinnacle.

But typically, it was the Evil Fruit that wanted to devour the Good Fruit.

“Little Lu?”

Lu Xiqiao’s condition gradually stabilized. The black energy at his spiritual sea receded slightly, and the turbidity in his eyes slowly cleared somewhat. His vision seemed to gradually focus as he took a deep breath: “Sister… Sister Kui…”

Xiang Haikui: “What happened?”

He blinked several times, and after confirming he wasn’t dreaming, showed a strange expression between laughing and crying: “Sister Kui, do you know? I ate my elder brother…”

Xiang Haikui remained silent.

If the two fruits devoured each other and he was still here, Lu Xigu must have been eaten by him.

Lu Xiqiao laboriously raised his arm to cover his eyes: “My elder brother wanted to eat me… He was so wicked, but he still treated me quite well, usually. I never thought…”

He was trembling, his voice revealing fear and pain.

This Lu Xiqiao was one Xiang Haikui had never seen before. Though she was anxious, she still comforted him: “Take your time.”

“When my great-grandfather planted my soul into the fruit, he left a protective prohibition in my soul, probably to guard against my brother. When he was restrained for a moment, I was very afraid, afraid he would eat me after breaking free, so while he couldn’t move, I ate him first…”

“Sister Kui, can you believe it? This body of mine isn’t original; it has an incredibly powerful origin.”

After gradually calming down, Lu Xiqiao explained what had happened.

Hearing that Little Bai had been severely injured and escaped to the Underworld, Xiang Haikui first felt relieved, then broke into a cold sweat—the other side was the Land of Nine Sufferings.

Then, hearing that Meng Nanting had been subdued as soon as he descended to the mortal realm, with the Lu family even stripping his corpse of valuables, Xiang Haikui couldn’t help feeling secretly satisfied.

But something still seemed off.

What exactly was wrong?

“Let’s leave this place first.” Since Little Bai had already fallen into the Underworld, Xiang Haikui couldn’t pursue him.

Her boss would awaken soon anyway; they could rescue Little Bai after her boss woke up.

She stood up and walked to Xiang Tianqing’s side, bending down to lift her.

Suddenly, there was a sharp pain in the divine meridian point on her back.

Like being struck by electricity, the current instantly flowed through her limbs and body.

Xiang Haikui turned her head—it was Lu Xiqiao behind her.

The black cracks on his face hadn’t completely receded, and his face showed no expression.

Xiang Haikui: “You…”

Perhaps due to the Pure Qi, Tian Kuang had given no warning at all.

Her body went limp, and she fell to the ground, slowly losing consciousness.

Lu Xiqiao slightly lowered his head: “Que Chi.”

Que Chi flew out from a jade pendant in the corner, looking at Lu Xiqiao with some wariness.

All along, he had been working with Lu Xigu.

After being summoned back by the jade pendant, he discovered that the person summoning him wasn’t Lu Xigu, but Lu Xiqiao.

He realized that Lu Xigu had failed and been devoured instead of devouring.

But the Lu Xiqiao before him was not the real person.

It was Meng Nanting.

Meng Nanting said, “What do you think? From now on, if you bring your Mountain and Sea clan friends to follow me, I can give you whatever you want.”

Glancing at Xiang Haikui lying on the ground, he added, “She is just a welcome gift.”

Most of these Mountain and Sea clan members, except for the fox and snake clans, were simple-minded brutes. It didn’t matter; he had enough brains for all of them. As fighters, the Mountain and Sea races were most suitable for charging into battle.

The wariness in Que Chi’s eyes did not dissipate: “Meng Nanting, how did you revive?”

“Revive?” Meng Nanting said indifferently. “I’ve never died before, just leisurely hid myself away, letting the Lu family work for me.”

When Meng Nanting had chosen Lu Xiqiao, he certainly knew he was the Pure Good Dao Merging Fruit.

It was intentional. He deliberately let the Good Fruit drag his soul down to the mortal realm, and deliberately provided Lu Zhengtu with part of his memories.

His initially divided spirit had been a Lu family servant, observing Lu Zhengtu for a period to gauge his character before devising this strategy.

Meng Nanting was taking a calculated risk.

He had practiced divination for many years, casting his fortune, always receiving unsatisfactory results.

So he deliberately approached a woman—the strongest astrologer in the heavenly realm, a female disciple under Immortal Lord Han Qi.

He received confirmation that his fate was indeed poor.

Meng Nanting also wanted to change his fate. The Lu brothers had changed their destiny by switching to Dao Merging Fruit vessels.

He, too, had his eye on a Dao Merging Fruit vessel.

What he coveted was the vessel after one fruit had devoured the other.

The best time for possession was when the victorious side was at its weakest after devouring the other.

So he used some immortal techniques to hide in Lu Xiqiao’s consciousness sea, waiting for the right moment.

Meng Nanting walked to Xiang Tianqing’s side, half-squatting down to feed her a pill: “Sister?”

Xiang Tianqing remained unconscious.

Meng Nanting: “Rest for now.”

Soon, he would call for suicide warriors to sacrifice themselves; the hellfire was already prepared.

After some powerhouses from the Land of Nine Sufferings escaped and caused devastation, he would let his sister use the hellfire to burn Lesser Jianmu to death, which would be a great merit.

Meng Nanting sat cross-legged beside Xiang Tianqing and said to Que Chi: “There’s a protective prohibition in Lu Xiqiao’s soul. I need some time. Go outside and keep watch for me.”

Que Chi nodded, signifying their deal was struck.

Que Chi picked up Xiang Haikui from the ground and walked out: “How long do you need?”

Meng Nanting: “Half a day.” Then added, “Be careful not to kill her. I still have use for her.”

“What do you plan to do to my junior sister?” Que Chi held her tighter, looking at him with an unfriendly expression.

“I have no interest in her.” Meng Nanting sent him away.

Que Chi carried Xiang Haikui out of the wooden prison, sat down against the wall outside, and held her.

He sneered as he traced her lip line with his finger: “Little girl, I underestimated you. Who would have thought that looking so foolish, you’d have such a sharp tongue?”

He lowered his head and bit the earlobe from which he had removed the feather earring.

As he was about to untie the sash at her waist, he suddenly heard Xiang Haikui’s mental transmission: “Is your mouth numb?”

Que Chi’s expression changed as he realized his lips were indeed slightly numb.

Xiang Haikui: “I’ve applied poison all over my body, you stupid fool. Surprised?”

As soon as she finished speaking, she suddenly transformed into a flood dragon in his arms, “bang”—sending him flying.

Que Chi was knocked back into the tree wall, creating a dent, and with the added effect of the poison, he coughed up a mouthful of black blood.

Xiang Haikui didn’t linger, flying upward to escape.

“You were prepared?” Meng Nanting walked out of the prison, quite surprised.

As he spoke, he formed hand seals. Now united with Lesser Jianmu and possessing Lu Xigu’s memories, he knew how to control the tree.

The spiral staircase broke in the middle, crumbling into a pile of wood chips that drifted down.

Then, with a hum, a barrier appeared over the upward path.

After charging twice without breaking through, Xiang Haikui turned directly to the left side, rapidly rotating her body to use her flood dragon form as a drill. Her dragon horn bored a hole in the wood, allowing her to enter the root tunnel.

She immediately shrank her body into a small lizard and ran wildly.

The interior of the roots was hollow, connecting to one another, forming a massive maze resembling a complex ant nest.

As long as she didn’t move in a straight line and turned randomly at each fork, they could only find her by luck.

After running until her four legs felt like they would break off, she crawled into a root node.

Lesser Jianmu was so enormous that even a single root node had a space of five or six square meters.

Once inside, she reverted to human form, collapsing with her sword. Her eyes were bloodshot, and she coughed up a mouthful of black blood.

She had sensed it.

It wasn’t due to any particularly keen intuition or clever thinking.

Earlier, “Lu Xiqiao” had said that Meng Nanting had died immediately after descending to the mortal realm two hundred years ago, with even his true soul being dragged down to the mortal realm and killed.

But Han Qi had previously said that the reason he didn’t pay much attention to Meng Nanting was because the star representing Meng Nanting was dim and incapable of achieving great things.

What did this mean? No matter how dim, the star still existed.

Han Qi had been watching the star chart constantly to defeat her boss. If the star remained, it meant Meng Nanting was not dead.

At that moment, her mind was in chaos, and she couldn’t sort things out, so she took precautions. While listening to Meng Nanting speak, she continuously absorbed the wild energy from Tian Kuang sword, drawing it all back into her body for protection, not leaving a bit behind.

Having escaped death, she truly needed to thank Han Qi, that troublemaker.

After mentally lighting three incense sticks for him, Xiang Haikui fainted in this dark little space.